Locking mechanism for folding couches.



H. W. HENNEBERG. LOOKING MECHANISM FOR FOLDING commas. APPLIUATION FILED MAY 13. 1910.

969,105. a Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

In: nexus ll'rtlu ca, wasumaran, n.

HENRY W. HENN'EBERG,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LOCKING MECHANISM FOR FOLDING COUGHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

Application filed May 13, 1910. Serial No. 561,046.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WV. HENNE- BERG, a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looking Mechanism for Folding Couches, of which the following is a full, clear, and precise specification.

My invention relates to improved lock or latch mechanism for swinging leaves of couches, beds, or the like.

In some prior devices of this kind latch arms are pivoted at their extreme outer ends to the leaves and extend inwardly through slots in the posts of the couch or bed body to cooperate with locking edges to lock the leaves in horizontal position, and to drop the leaves to their vertical position they are first raised a distance and then given a sudden downward impetus to cause the inertia acquired by the latch arms to carry the latch arms clear of the locking edges so that the leaves can be completely dropped. In other prior arrangements additional supports are provided for temporarily holding the latch arms clear of the locking plane, whereupon the leaves are first given a sudden impetus so that the inertia acquired by the locking arms will maintain them clear of locking engagement for a sufiicient length of time to allow lowering of the leaves. In all these prior ar rangements, however, the entire weight of the latch bars or arms must be overcome during the impetus of movement of the leaves, and the operation is not always reliable.

Among the important objects of my invention are to provide a construction of looking or latching mechanism in which the looking or latch arms are pivoted quite close to their center of gravity so that the arms will be more evenly balanced and so that less efiort will be required to effect the automatic operation of the looking or latching engagement, at the same time assuring perfect and reliable latching engagement to properly hold the leaves rigidly in their raised position; to provide an arrangement which will not require additional mechanism for cooperating with the latch arms to effect their release or looking engagement; and in general to provide a more simplified and more eflicient construction and arrangement of latching mechanism.

The nature of my invention is clearly disclosed in the following specification and shown on the accompanying drawing, in which drawing Figure 1 is an elevation view of one corner of a metallic couch, showing various positions of the leaf and latch mechanism, Fig. 2 is a view taken from the left of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on plane 83, Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing other positions of the leaf and locking mechanism.

The couch body shown is of well known construction, whose end frames each comprise a body part 1 and legs or posts 2, one of which is here shown, the body part and legs being ofangle iron. Each corner between the top bar and posts is strengthened by a corner strap 3. In the longitudinal flange of each post a narrow vertical slot 4 is provided. Each leaf comprises side members 5 of angle iron pivoted at their inner ends 6 to the outer ends of the top bars 1 at a point outside of the adjacent posts 2. Each side bar of a leaf has pivoted thereto at an intermediate point 7 a latch member A adapted to swing in a vertical plane. This latch member is preferably in the form of a bell crank lever pivoted at its elbow at the point 7 the inner arm 8 forming the latch arm, and an outer arm 9 forming a weight arm, the arm 9 being heavier than the arm 8 so that the center of gravity of the lever is outside of its pivot plane, the lever, therefore, having a tendency to rotate in counterclockwise direction to raise the arm 8. The arm 8 is in the vertical plane of the slot 4, and its inner end 10 is on the bias, as shown, the arm passing through the slot 4 when the leaf is lowered and the biased end 10 abutting against the horizontal flange of the corresponding top bar 1 when the leaf is in its lowermost position, as shown in Fig. 4 in dotted lines. When the leaf is in its permanent upper position the biased end 10 abuts against the front of the corresponding post 2 below the slot 4:, the arms 8 then forming struts for holding the leaf in its permanent upper position.

When it is desired to open a leaf from its lowered position it is suddenly swung upwardly slightly beyond its permanent upward position, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, this sudden impetus being transmitted to the lever A and its heavy arm,

and the lever is given a sudden clockwise rotation, the heavy arm 9 being thrown upwardly and the arm -8 being drawn outwardly through slot a and its end 10 carried a distance beyond the front of post 2. After this sudden upward movement of the leaf it is given a sudden downward impulse to cause the ends 10 to be carried into abutting engagement with the posts 2 below the slots 4 before the lever has time to recover and to rotate in counterclockwise direction to allow the arms 8 to reenter slots 4. The parts then have the positions shown in Fig. 1, the arms 8 abutting against the posts 2 and the arms 9 bearing against the horizontal flanges of the leaf side members, and the leaf will be rigidly and securely held in its permanent upper position. If it is desired to drop the leaf it is first raised slightly in a normal manner to carry the ends 10 of the arms 8 into line with the slots 4, whereupon the arms 9 become eifective to rotate the levers to swing the arms 8 upwardly through the slots 4 (Fig. 4), and the leaf can then be swung or dropped to its lowered position to carry the ends 10 against the top bars 1. In my arrangement, therefore, the locking lever is pivoted with respect to its center of gravity so that very little efi'ort is necessary to establish latching engagement of the parts to lock the leaves in their upper positions, while at the same time the most efficient locking conditions are assumed and maintained to rigidly lock the leaves in their upward positions.

I do not desire to be limited to the precise construction and arrangement herein shown, as changes and modifications are possible which would still be included in my invention, and I therefore claim the following:

1. In a folding couch, the combination of end frames each comprising a top bar and supporting standards at the ends thereof, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of the top bars and adapted to be swung to a down position substantially parallel with the standards and to an up position. at an angle with said standards, a latch abutment on each of the standards adjacent said leaf, a brace pivoted at its outer end to each leaf side bar at an intermediate point thereof, the lower end of said braces engaging said abutments when the leaf side bars are in their normal up position to lock said leaf in its normal up position, and a weight eX tension on each brace, said wei ht extension tending to rotate the ends of said braces clear of said abutments upon slight upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal up position and to thereafter maintain said braces out of range of said abutments so that the leaf can be lowered to its down position.

2. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a supporting standard for each top bar, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of the top bars, each standard having a latch abutment and a passageway thereover, a latch bar pivoted to each leaf side member at an intermediate point thereof, said latch bars at their lower ends engaging with said abutments when the leaf is in a normal up position to lock said leaf in such position, and means operative to rotate said latch arms clear of said abutments and through said passageways upon a slight upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upward position.

3. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a supporting standard for each top bar, a leaf comprisin side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of the top bars, each standard having a latch abutment and a passageway thereover, a latch bar pivoted to each leaf side member at an intermediate point thereof, said latch bars attheir lower ends engaging with said abutments when the leaf is in a normal up position to lock said leaf in such position, and a weight arm extending from each latch bar, said Weight arms tending to cause rotation of said latch bars clear of said abutments and through said passageways upon a slight upward swing of said leaf beyond its normal upward position.

4. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a supporting standard associated with each top bar, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of said top bars, each standard having a latch abutment and a passageway thereover, a bell crank latch bar pivoted at its elbow to each of the side members of said leaf, the ends of the inner arms of said levers engaging said abutments when the leaf is in a normal upper position to hold said leaf in such position, and the outer ends of the leaf side members abutting vertically against the outer arms of said levers to maintain engagement of the inner arms with said abutments, said outer arms of the levers being heavier than the inner arms whereby the inner arms will be rotated clear of said abutments and through said passageways upon a slight upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upward position.

5. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a standard associated with each top bar near one end thereof, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of said top bars and adapted to swing to a lower position substantially parallel with the standards and to an upper position at an angle therewith, a latch bar plvoted to each of the leaf side members at an intermediate point thereof, each standard having a vertical slot through which the corresponding latch bar projects inwardly when the leaf is in its down position, and means tending to hold said latch bars at the upper parts of said slots, said means being responsive to sudden upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upper position to swing said latch arms outwardly through the slots and their inner ends into planes below said slots whereby sudden return of the leaf to its normal position will effect engagement of the inner ends of said latch bars with the standards below said slots whereafter said leaf is locked in its normal upper position.

6. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a standard associated with each top bar near one end thereof, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of said top bars and adapted to swing to a lower position substantially parallel with the standards and to an upper position at an angle therewith, a latch bar pivoted to each of the leaf side members at an intermediate point thereof, each standard having a vertical slot through which the corresponding latch bar projects inwardly when the leaf is in its down position, and a weighted extension on each latch bar tending to swing said latch bar to the upper part of its slot, said weight arms being responsive to sudden upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upper position to swing the latch arms out of the slots and below the lower ends thereof, whereupon the ends of said latch bars will abut against the standards below said slots upon subsequent sudden downward movement of the leaf to its normal upper position.

7. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a standard associated with each top bar near one end thereof, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of said top bars and adapted to swing to a lower position substantially parallel with the standards and to an upper position at an angle therewith, a latch bar pivoted to each of the leaf side members adjacent an intermediate point thereof, each standard having a vertical slot through which the corresponding latch bar projects inwardly when the leaf is in its down position, a weighted extension on each latch bar tending to swing said latch bar to the upper part of its slot, said weight arms being responsive to sudden upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upward position to swing the latch arms out of the slots and below the lower ends thereof, whereupon the ends of said latch bars will abut against the standards below said slots upon subsequent sudden downward movement of the leaf to its normal upward position, and means for limiting such outward and downward swing of the latch arms.

8. In a folding couch, the combination of top bars and a standard associated with each top bar near one end thereof, a leaf comprising side members pivoted at their inner ends to the adjacent ends of said top bars and adapted to swing to a lower position substantially parallel with the standards and to an upper position at an angle therewith, a latch bar pivoted to each of the leaf side members adjacent an intermediate point thereof, each standard having a vertical slot through which the corresponding latch bar projects inwardly when the leaf is in its down position, and a weighted extension on each latch bar tending to swing said latch bar to the upper part of its slot, said weight arms being responsive to sudden upward swing of the leaf beyond its normal upward position to swing the latch arms out of the slots and below the lower ends thereof, whereupon the ends of said latch bars will abut against the standards below said slots upon subsequent sudden downward movement of the leaf to its normal upward position, and said weight arms being engaged by the leaf side members upon downward swing to normal upward position of said leaf to thereby limit the outward movement of said latch arms upon upward swing of said leaf.

In witness hereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 7th day of May, A. D., 1910.

HENRY W. HENNEBERG.

WVitnesses:

E. G. INGERSOLL, ALBER H. GRAvns. 

